Facebook Acquires Recommendation Site Nextstop

Facebook has acquired nextstop, a network of user-generated recommendations about what to do, see, and experience around the globe.

Facebook has acquired nextstop, a network of user-generated recommendations about what to do, see, and experience around the globe.

As part of the deal, nextstop.com will shut down on September 1, and the company will join Facebook. Nextstop said Facebook has acquired "most" of its assets, but terms of the deal were not revealed.

"This was a difficult decision for us. We felt like nextstop had a great future, and recently released some major updates in response to user feedback over the past few months," nextstop said in a note on its Web site. "In the end, however, we decided that pursuing our mission to help people discover the world around them was something that could be done with greater impact and scale as a part of Facebook."

The nextstop team will join Facebook, and the site will be closed in order to "focus all our attention on what comes next," nextstop said.

Existing users can continue to use nextstop for the next two months, but the site is no longer accepting new users. The company has also released an export tool, which will help users send their work to Picasa Web Albums, Google Maps, or to a downloadable PDF or HTML file. Information must be exported by Sept. 1.

Nextstop said its initial goal was to "help you find something great to get out and do -- whatever you are interested in, whatever language you speak, and wherever you are."

In the next few weeks, the company promised to release its existing database of places and recommendations via a Creative Commons license.

"Our aim is make it possible for other products -- whether they already exist or are yet to be created -- to harness the collective knowledge of the nextstop community, which includes information on nearly 100,000 recommendations for places around the world," nextstop said.

"We can confirm that we recently completed a small talent acquisition for Nextstop and acquired most of the company's assets," Facebook said in a statement. "We've admired the engineering team's efforts for some time now and we're excited to have them join Facebook."

In August 2009, Facebook acquired social networking site aggregator FriendFeed. Earlier this year, it acquired contact importer Octazen Solutions.

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from American University...
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